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Above: It's still going on! Helicopter footage of violence between Blues and Villa fans in 2009

They had yet to make the family – mum, dad and kids – part of top-flight football in the 1970s and early 80s.

It was a standing-only era for soccer. A tarnished time of suffocating stands, racism, foul language and violence. The only women who dared to attend grounds wore St John Ambulance uniforms and endured a barrage of lewd remarks as they walked self-consciously around the perimeter of pitches.

It was also a time when hooliganism gravitated from an “issue” to a social disease, with organised, hard-line “firms” pledging tribal-like allegiance to their clubs.

Forty years ago our game was hijacked by thugs and it took decades to scrub clean the stain they left on domestic football.

Here, we look at the notorious 1970s mobs who brought menace to matchdays.

The game is not free of violence, not by any means, but thankfully – in an era of social media where gangs can pre-arrange punch-ups away from public glare – they will never replicate the shameful street violence instigated by the notorious ‘firms’.

That is something CCTV has done for society: the spy cameras have made brawls in public places a risky business for those taking part.

Zulu Warriors (Birmingham City)

Possibly the most notorious of the Midlands terrace thugs, the Zulu Warriors were at their peak in the early 1980s. The yobs instilled fear in rivals with the deafening chant “Zulu, Zulu, Zulu”.

They formed in the early 1980s, superseding an earlier Blues supporters gang called The Apex.

The Zulu name began to become more widely known after an infamous confrontation in 1982 with Manchester City fans at Maine Road.

They stood apart from other notorious hooligan groups of the day, including West Ham’s Inter City Firm and the Chelsea Headhunters, for one reason – their ethnic make-up.

Their fighting reputation was cemented by an incident where 25 of them took on far larger numbers of Portsmouth yobs in a South Coast street.

But it was the Birmingham and Leeds riot on the last game of the season in 1985 that really brought the Zulus to national attention.

After scenes of appalling violence inside and outside the ground, more than 500 people were left injured and one teenage Leeds fan died.

Ian Hambridge, aged just 15, was attending his first ever professional football match. He died when a wall collapsed on him.

The appalling tragedy and rioting led to a full public Government inquiry led by Judge Oliver Popplewell, who described the Birmingham-Leeds game as “more like the Battle of Agincourt than a football match”.

The Subway Army (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

The firm gained notoriety – and their name – by ambushing rival fans in a long, dank subway leading to Wolves’ ground, Molineux.

Bizarrely, the gang was spawned during a Bingley Hall, Stafford, gig by The Jam. Groups from rival areas of Wolverhampton, including Wednesfield, Bushbury and The Scotlands, joined forces in a running battle with Mods at the gig – and the bloody bond was formed.

The large gang was effectively dissolved in 1982 after one of its members was seriously injured in a mass brawl outside the city centre’s now defunct George pub. Numerous members were brought before the courts, ending the Army’s reign of terror.

The Steamers (Aston Villa)

One of their most famous generals was an individual known as Pete the Greek who, terrace folklore would have it, headbutted a police horse and battled Millwall’s hooligan boss in a one-to-one brawl.

The Steamers – named after their tendency to steam into battle – were replaced by the C Crew, a multiracial mob that also pledged allegiance to the 2 Tone music and fashion movement.

They will be forever remembered for the sickening violence that erupted on January 10, 1981, when 100 C Crew hooligans waited for Liverpool supporters at New Street station’s rail bar.

A full-scale riot, involving an assortment of weapons, including Stanley knives, ensued.

Naughty Forty (Stoke City)

The ultra-violent Stoke firm once boasted 700 members but was forged during a bloody 1985 battle at Portsmouth involving 400 hooligans.

The mayhem was later described as “nothing major, just a bit naughty”.

N40, led by men such as Philler the Beast and Miffer, had a simple motto: whatever the odds, always make a stand. Reformed former hooligan Mark Chester wrote a book about running with the crew, titled Naughty.

“Right or wrong,” he said. “I was ready to be a committed football hooligan.”

Riot police on the pitch during the Birmingham City v Leeds United match in 1985. (Photo: Mirrorpix)

English Border Front (Shrewsbury Town)

Shrewsbury may be a historic town littered with black and white buildings and its fooball club may have a family-friendly reputation.

But its hooligan crew, the EBF, had a well-earned reputation for hardcore violence. In fact, sporting website bleacherreport rates the EBF, which gets its names from the town’s close proximity to the Welsh border, as the second worst hooligan gang in Britain.

Formed in 1984, the EBL thugs, in the guise of England supporters, have frequently taken their aggro abroad.

In 1998, before the World Cup in France, one EBL leader was among a list of hooligans sent to the media. The gang had a strong hatred of Leicester City’s Baby Squad, fuelled by clashes in the 1970s and 80s.

Section 5 (West Brom)

While the Baggies have had the misfortune to be followed by several hooligan clans, Section 5 was the biggest and oldest.

Members were usually located in the Smethwick End stand and the name originated from a slice of legislation aimed at combating terrace violence.

The crew’s savagery was highlighted in a book, Sons of Albion by reformed hooligan Tony Freeth. He said: “West Brom’s firm was one of the first in the country to be multi-racial with whites, Afro-Caribbean and Asians all fighting side by side and I think that needs to be recognised.

“These days it’s nothing like it was in the heyday because there are banning orders and CCTV cameras everywhere, meaning anyone who becomes a football hooligan will certainly end up in court.”

Junction 9 (Walsall)

The Saddlers are another small club saddled with a firm that had a big reputation.

Junction 9, spawned in the 1970s, gained their name from the ground’s close location to the M6.

Followers had a reputation for punching above their weight, particularly when it came to Black Country rivals Wolves.

Cov Legion (Coventry City)

Sadly, the Cov Legion stayed strong through the New Millennium. In 2007, they put the Sky Blues fifth in a top 10 list of clubs whose followers have caused the most disruption on the railways.

A former member summed up the mentality of members: “Football hooligans may not be true fans to you.

“But we’re there every game. What are you doing? ‘Oh lets sit at home on the chat boards slagging off how bad Coventry City are doing’. Come back when you know what you are talking about. We’re prepared to fight whether it’s windy, snowy or rainy.

“We’re prepared to fight every weekend through the football season for Coventry City and for everything they represent.”

Derby Lunatic Fringe (Derby County)

They’ve dragged The Rams reputation through the mud ever since the team played on the Baseball Ground’s quagmire surface.

They have featured in many high-profile terrace battles and famously stormed the pitch in the last game of the 1979/80 relegation season against Manchester City.

Inter City Firm (Hereford United)

Another small club which had a firm that had a place in the hooligan premiership.

Not to be confused with the West Ham clan of the same name, they made The Bulls’ ground a very intimidating place for away supporters.

The ICF were at their worst during derby matches with arch rivals Shrewsbury Town.

“The size of me,” he puts forward as a probable reason for his popularity, “people do feel intimidated by me. I stand out a mile.”

He speaks matter-of-factly about those shameful years of soccer mob rule.

“We earned our reputation. There were people like Millwall, they thought they were top, but we wanted to be the top hooligans.

“You are there with your friends and you are outnumbered 20 to one and you think ‘I ain’t running nowhere’.

“You get up in the morning, you want to go to that town and you want to take the p*** for the day. You want to take over that town for the day. But we didn’t just beat anyone with a Liverpool scarf – the lads know who the lads are.

“At the time, it was all about Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.”

Barrington clings to a perceived code of conduct among thugs and laments the behaviour of the new breed of bad boys.

“There are young people calling themselves Zulus who are tarnishing the name,” he complains.

“They are ruthless young f***ers. Years ago, you saw an old person, you stopped what you were doing and let them go past.”